Scripture X3: II

(Continuing from "Scripture, Scripture and more Scripture")

Many of these verses to begin with are ones that I am sure seem very common and familiar to us all; ones that we have known since the beginning of our faith journey with God. Although, the further we move along, I'm sure the bulk of newer verses will gradually sound less familiar; and the point here is to make the unfamiliar: familiar!

Before I post the next ten verses I would like to share what Richard J. Foster states from his Book, "Life with God." He says that when he comes across a particular scripture (after the reading of a certain passage) "will often write out that excerpt on an index card and carry it with him throughout the day for reflection whenever he has the chance to read it again." He continues to say that, "This is one way of seeking the gentle leading of God's Spirit. Such humble submission to the text allows God to shape the attitude and posture of our hearts." This is huge while each of us personally makes the time for Bible study and memorization of the written Word. Just one or a list of verses helps us to see the importance behind memorization - like a grocery list helps one when shopping. What I mean is that the routine of opening the saved list of verses on my iPod, increasingly helps me to realize that I must master theses verses so I will not have to constantly reach for a Bible; because you and I will not always have a Bible at the tip of our fingers. Consequently, I should have them memorized so for whatever circumstance arises, I will be ready and willing to share off the tip of my tongue what God has helped me store within my heart.

11.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

12. "And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

13. "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

14. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,  for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

15. "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world" (John 1:9).

16. "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Genesis 1:26).

17. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

18. "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

19. "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18).

20. "Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

(All ESV Translation)

The End Times?

Just some interesting facts within the pages of Joel C. Rosenburg's book, "The Last Days."

Author Joel C. Rosenberg writes "The Last Days" - sequel to the explosive New York Times bestseller "The Last Jihad." Despite the fact that I have not read either book, my Dad has and shared with me an interesting excerpt describing what you may say: Revelation foretells as signs of the end times. Also, the book "The Last Days" is fictional; however, it remains with the intention of arising to the reader factual past and present conflicts around the globe that stress the end times. Furthermore, I will quote a section of dialogue, which too both of us, striked as amazing proof that the end times is real and is coming fast!

“Well, think about it, Jonathan – like ‘wars and revolutions’ and ‘kingdom rising against kingdom.’ Just look at the twentieth century.”

“Yeah, but Eli, come on, man has always had wars and revolutions.”

“World War One, the war to end all wars? The Russian Revolution. World War Two. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Six million butchered by Hitler, and that’s just counting the Jews. The rise of the Evil Empire. Twenty million slaughtered by Stalin alone. Half the world enslaved by Communism. Korea. Vietnam. Pol Pot. All the Middle East wars. China and India. India and Pakistan. The rise of nationalism. Tribal warfare in Africa. I could go on and on and so could you. Of course there have been wars and revolutions throughout time. But never anything on the scale we saw in the twentieth century.”

(Bennett considered that for a moment, but wasn’t ready to concede the point).

“And what was another one, earthquakes? You can’t just say because we’ve had a few huge quakes in the last few weeks that we’re living the ‘last days.’”

“Fine. Do the research.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean ask the U.S. Geological Service. They say there are five hundred thousand earthquakes every single year. A hundred thousand that can be felt. A thousand that do serious damage. At least a hundred registering seven point zero or higher on the Richter scale. That’s a serious earthquake almost every four days. And the more urbanization occurs, the more damage a quake can do, the more people a quake can kill, the more costly these earthquakes are. In 1990, almost forty thousand people died in a quake in Iran. In ’76, a quarter of a million people died during a massive quake in China. The ’94 earthquake in Northridge, California was the most expensive in American history so far. Caused forty billion dollars in damage. Got the picture?

“I guess so.”

“You could say the same thing about ‘famine and pestilence.’ Just look at Africa. Ethiopia, Somalia – hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation. And disease? We’ve got ten million AIDS orphans in Africa alone, the numbers are climbing every day. Are we supposed to do nothing? Are we supposed to say, ‘Oh well, it’s just a sign of the end times’?”

“No. Of course not.”

And to that I must answer with Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Not only do we have to help the dying and suffering, but we must also spread the good news of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to all!

"The magnitude of these problems and the convergence of all these signs and events in the same century and right up to the present moment should be all the evidence we need."

Sacred Marriage : IV

Holy Honor: Marriage Teaches Us to Respect Others

I've somehow gotten off track with the Sacred Marriage posts, so I thought I'd try to get back on that topic today. If you're like Kristin and I, when you were first married you became acutely aware of some small differences. "This is a tea towel," Kristin would remind me, "and this towel is used for drying your hands, and it goes here." This made no sense to me whatsoever. A towel is a towel right? Apparently not, at least not at Kristin's parents house. Maybe it's where jackets and coats are stored, where dirty dishes go or where you keep the Tylenol. Maybe it's wearing shoes in the house or what drawer the cutlery goes in. Surely all of us married folk have had to endure these conversations.

If we have to endure long periods of time with these kind of conversations, we have a tendency to embrace, at first, a low level of contempt, which then breeds higher levels of contempt and resentment. That's the topic of this chapter.

The author, Gary Thomas, says,

"All of us have a visceral desire to be respected. When this desire isn't met, we are tempted to lapse into a self-defeating response. Rather than work to build our own life so that respect is granted to us, we work to tear down our spouse in a desperate attempt to convince ourselves that their lack of respect is meaningless. Spiritually, this becomes a vicious and debilitating cycle that is extremely difficult to break.
God has a solution that, if we adopt it, will revolutionize our relationships. While many people fight to receive respect, Christian marriage calls us to focus our efforts on giving respect. We are called to honor someone even when we know only too well their deepest character flaws. We are called to stretch ourselves, to find out how we can learn to respect this person with whom we've become so familiar. And in this exploration, we are urged to "have contempt for contempt.'"

I thought this was wise advice. I know that too often I've fallen into this trap - thinking that I am owed more respect, and tearing down my wife. For this I have often repented. Thomas wisely points out that we need to focus on giving respect and looking for those bright spots, just as Paul did many of the churches to whom he wrote (consider the church in Corinth - 1Cor. 1:4, "I always thank God for you..." - despite their flaws!).

Betsy and Gary Ricucci, in Love That Lasts, write,

"Honor isn't passive, it's active. We honor our wives by demonstrating our esteem and respect: complimenting them in public; affirming their gifts, abilities, and accomplishments; and declaring our appreciation for all they do. Honor not expressed is not honor."

One final comment from Thomas:

"Contempt is conceived with expectations. Respect is conceived with expressions of gratitude. We can choose which one we will obsess over - expectations, or thanksgivings. That choice will result in a birth - and the child will be named either contempt, or respect."

I pray that these words are of great encouragement to you - and to your marriage. May you seek, and find, thanksgiving and respect in your marriage.

Sanctification

Quite a while ago I used the term sanctification, and promised to elaborate on that subject at a later time. Actually, I believe I said "soon"... well, that time has come, although I'm sure this will no longer be considered "soon". Sorry.

Here we go anyway...

The word sanctification refers to the act of process of making holy or setting apart (as special) and occurs approximately 5 times in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 1, 1 Thessalonians 4, 2 Thessalonians 2, and 1 Peter 1).

To sanctify is literally "to set apart for special use or purpose," figuratively "to make holy or sacred".

There is much that can be said (or written) on this subject, but for your reflection, I'll leave you with some words from CJ Mahaney in The Cross Centered Life:

"...the power of the gospel doesn't end when we're justified. When God declares a sinner righteous, He immediately begins the process of making that sinner more like His Son. Through the work of His Spirit, through the power of His word and fellowship with other believers, God peels away our desires for sin, renews our minds, and changes our lives. This ongoing work is what we call "sanctification". Sanctification is a process - the process of becoming life Christ, of growing in holiness ... about our own choices and behavior. It involves work."

How does this differ from justification? Mahaney again clarifies this for us:

"Justification is being declared righteous. Sanctification is being made righteous - being conformed to the image of Christ. Justification is our position before God. Sanctification is our practice... Justification is objective - Christ's work for us. Sanctification is subjective - Christ's work within us. Justification is immediate and complete upon conversion... Sanctification is a process. You will be more sanctified as you continue in grace-motivated obedience."

As I read this section from Mahaney's book, I remembered that I was supposed to write on this topic, and it's been an encouragement to me today. I pray that as you reflect on these two theological terms, that you will be encouraged as well.

Sacred Marriage : III

Learning to Love: How Marriage Teaches us to Love

Yes, it is difficult to love your spouse.

This chapter, while not quite as engaging at the first two, focuses on the inevitable challenges that we face in marriage, the biggest being love.

Thomas points out that God teaches us a lot through our marriages - we've already touched on that a little bit already in the first two chapters, but Thomas now focuses our attention toward love; teaching us to love, through our marriages.

We read about Matthew 22:34-40, where we are told that we are to 1) Love God, and 2) Love our neighbors. Thomas points out that there is an attitude (towards God), and an action (loving others). Jesus has connected the two ideas for a purpose; Thomas suggests that they are connected to demonstrate to us that if we love God, we must love others - even our spouse - even when we don't want to - even when they are nasty towards us - even when we disagree. Thomas says this:

We show our love for God in part by loving our spouses well. We can never love somebody "too much." Our problem is that typically we love God to little.

He continues:

If I can't love my wife, how can I love the homeless man...? How can I love the drug addict or the alcoholic? Yes, this spouse might be difficult to love at times, but that's what marriage is for - to teach us how to love.

And finally,

To fail to love my wife and kids rightly in the name of loving other people rightly is a sham.

If somebody tried to describe your love for God solely by how well you love your spouse, what would he or she conclude?

How much time do you spend thinking about how to make your spouse happy, compared to the amount of time you spend thinking about how well your spouse is pleasing you?

Sacred Marriage : II

Finding God in Marriage: Marital Analogies Teach Us Truths About God.

Chapter 2 of this book serves a few purposes; the first purpose is to evaluate the Scriptural analogies related to marriage (for example, Christ and the church). On this point, Thomas says: "Isaiah uses marital imagery to stress how God rejoices in his people: 'As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.' (Isaiah 62:5b)" (p. 29). The second purpose is to ask pointed questions that will help us view marriage in a God-centered way. Thomas asks this key question of the reader:

"Will we approach marriage from a God-centered view or a man-centered view? In a man-centered view, we will maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, desires and expectations are met. In a God-centered view, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator." (p. 32).

Thomas uses two passages that I found to be incredibly challenging and encouraging, the first, an oft-quoted passage from Ephesians 5:25-27: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." The second, 2 Corinthians 5:9, "So we make it our goal to please him.".

The implications of those passages are staggering. Not only are we to love our wives, but our job, through love, is to "make her holy"! Our call in marriage is to come alongside our spouse, joining with them to make them pure (without stain), holy and blameless.

Why?

"...if the marriages are heavily watered with an unwavering commitment to please God above everything else ... our marriages can be platforms for evangelism" (p. 36 & 37). Evangelism? Our marriages can be a platform for evangelism? Thomas argues, rightly I think, that "in a society where relationships are discarded with a frightening regularity, Christians can command attention simply by staying married. And when asked why, we can offer the platform of God's message of reconciliation...".

As always, there is much more that could have been written on this chapter, but I'll leave you with those thoughts to meditate on. I'll take just a moment to note that these reflections are just a small slice of a bigger pie. I'd encourage all couples - married, and soon-to-be married, to pick up this book for further study. At the back of the book there are discussion and reflection questions for you and your spouse, as well.

Sacred Marriage : I

The Greatest Challenge in the World: A Call to Holiness more than Happiness.

The first chapter of this book, much like many others, is an introduction to the book's topic and basically sets the stage for the rest of the book. What stood out to me most in this chapter is our society's focus on the "quick fix" for marital or relationship problems. You've seen it - on magazine covers in the grocery store: "6 ways to have a better marriage", or on internet search engine's: "3 easy steps to a better relationship", etc. It occurred to me in this first chapter, that we are inundated with quick and easy steps - none of which seem to be long lasting or life changing. It struck me that God must have had something else in mind for marriage.

Thomas says,

"What if God didn't design marriage to be 'easier'? What if God had an end in mind that went beyond our happiness, our comfort, and our desire to be infatuated and happy as if the world were a perfect place? What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?"

In Christian circles the tendency is to encourage our family and friends to pray harder, or learn a few of those ever-helpful principles or techniques. This isn't to say that learning to communicate better or be more conscious of your spouse's needs; only to suggest that those things, ultimately, won't achieve the change that God wants for you, and for your marriage.

Well, I hope that you will consider thinking on those points; consider what God intends for your marriage (or impending marriage), and ask yourself this question, referring to your spouse:

"Are you going to fulfill me, or will God fulfill me?" For many, the answer will come quickly, but practically speaking, if you're like me, you'll often look for fulfillment from your spouse first. This was a challenging thought for me, I hope it is for you as well.

It's been a week....

...and I've successfully managed to avoid the "Merry Christmas" blog that always seems necessary. I DO hope that everyone had a very good, safe and relaxing Christmas (and boxing day).

I always look forward to getting books for Christmas, and I thought that I would list some of the authors that I'm excited to read this year. The first book is a book on marriage that Kristin and I are going to work through together, slowly reading and discussing (as it includes questions!) over the next few months. It's called "Sacred Marriage: What if God designed marriage to make us Holy more than to make us Happy?" by Gary Thomas.

This is not to imply that we're not happy (we are!), only to suggest that Kristin and I intend to always seek God in our lives - and we'd like to seek to honor and know God more fully through our marriage. As we work through this book, I'll be sure to drop quotes and thoughts for your encouragement.

Other authors that are "on deck" are DA Carson, CJ Mahaney, JI Packer, John Piper and RJ Foster. Should be a good year! I also hope to pick up some fiction from Dekker and/or Peretti. As always, I'll keep you posted.

I also hope to enjoy past and future editions of TableTalk and Christian Research Journal magazines!

What will you read this year?

I hope to post my reflections on Chapter 1 of Sacred Marriage in the next day or two, titled "The Greatest Challenge in the World: A Call to Holiness More Than Happiness", but in the meantime, here's a quote from WH Auden that appears at the beginning of the book.

Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.

Christmas is coming....

...and the bloggers are all over it! There are countless bloggers trying to come up with something fresh - something distinct - to say about Christmas.

I'm not going to do that.


Not today at least.

Instead, I'm going to quote from a book that I'm currently reading - it's called Death by Love, written by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. I'm still a few chapters from the end, but it's a fantastic book that I would happily endorse. Read more about it here.

Here's a section, just to get you thinking.

In Christianity Lite the cross of Jesus is overlooked by people seeking a Christianity in which the objective is to gloify Self, the power to do is Self, and the means to do so are self-sufficiency, victorious living, pride, and comfort, which together commingle as a false gospel that is of no help when the dark seasons of life envelope you.

The great Reformer Martin Luther distinguished between the Christianity Lite theology of glory and the theology of the cross. The theology of glory celebrates what human beings can do based on their personal vision, self-discipline, and hard work. The theology of the cross celebrates what Jesus alone can accomplish for us, through us, with us, and in spite of us. The theology of glory seeks to know God directly in his power, wisdom, success and glory. The theology of the cross seeks to know God through the seeming weakness, folly, failure, and shame of the crucified Jesus. The theology of glory seeks to use God to avoid suffering, hardship, pain, shame, loss and failure as opportunities to grow in an understanding, appreciation, and emulation of the crucified Jesus. The theology of glory seeks to use God to obtain health and wealth. The theology of the cross seeks Jesus, even if that should mean experiencing pain and poverty like Jesus.

-- From Death By Love, by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears (p.202), published by Crossway.

John Milton - Paradise Lost

Everyone is blogging about John Milton today... the famous puritan author who penned Paradise Lost, a major literary work, an epic poem.

I haven't read Paradise Lost (yet!) but have wanted to do so for many years. This poem has been the inspiration for an enormous amount of writing, music and art. I'm told it's a fascinating story, and I'm eager to read it!

For now, I'm just going to quote John Piper, who wrote this brief article on his blog today. Enjoy!

Today is the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest English poets, John Milton (December 9, 1608 — November 8, 1674).

His greatest work, the epic poem Paradise Lost, was dictated between 1658 and 1664. He had become totally blind by 1654.

It begins with this prayer (to the Holy Spirit?), and covers the sweep of history from Adam to Christ:

Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse...

But in spite of the magnificent scope of the epic, my favorite of all Milton's writings is the sonnet, On His Blindness. I love it all the more the older I get. You will see why.

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

Pause and give thanks to God for his gifts to the world like John Milton and his verse. Sometimes the blind see far better than the every-busy seers.

As a post-script: I've come across so many valuable articles recently; I haven't linked many of them, probably because I haven't figured out how to preface them all, and don't want to overwhelm people with a plethora of information (though if you're like me, you looove reading lots of articles!). I'll try to add a few this week to keep you thinking.

The Oath

I love a good thriller. When you're looking for a gripping, spooky novel that will capture you're attention and keep you up late in the night, you can always count on Frank Peretti. Peretti has also penned classics like This Present Darkness, Piercing The Darkness, Monster, The Visitation and House.

The Oath is a story of a small town with a disturbing history. An ancient oath, a mysterious ... "pet", and some sticky black goo that smells like death...

The story begins with a horrific death on the mountainside, Cliff Benson was camping in the woods with his wife, when he was attacked. His wife escapes serious harm, but Cliff wasn't so lucky. The townsfolk suspect a large bear, and write the fatality off as a random bear attack, but there's some lingering questions - questions that Cliff's brother, Steve Benson, seeks to answer. Steve arrives in the small, close-knit town searching for the predator that killed his brother, and finds that the townspeople are not so happy to have his "help". He embarks on a wild adventure that will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night.

Always a captivating writer, Peretti will keep your interest and leave you wondering how the tale will end. Never short of creative ideas, you'll also encounter interesting personalities and a hard-to-find beast that devours people. This book, the 10th anniversary edition, is a must read!

The Shack

I was sitting on an old wooden porch this past summer - book in hand - every so often glancing up at the quiet lake in front of me. Every so often a boat would race by, usually towing some kids on tubes or ski's. Company arrived for lunch - a pastor and his wife who now minister in the Southern U.S. We got to talking, and since I was in the middle of a book, the pastor asked if I had read The Shack. The what? The Shack, he repeated, it's taking the country by storm! Now this sounds interesting...

He explained the premise of the book, and I was intrigued. He raved about it; it's a work of fiction to be sure, but contains a large dose of theology, set in a fictional story. Okay, let's give it a read. I picked it up at a local bookseller and dug in. It didn't take long to get drawn in to the storyline...

I put the book down. Finished. Good book - engaging, thought provoking and, at times, powerful and emotional. To be honest, I enjoyed the book very much and I would say that it challenged me to look at God in a slightly different way.

I was then sent a review by a friend. The review is by Gary Gilley, and the review is linked here. Initially I wanted to refute much of his review. For some reason, I didn't like the way Gilley critiqued the book and thought he was biased. Looking back, I think I was put off by a statement made early in the review:

Young’s message centers on the Trinity and salvation, but before we tackle Young’s main objective it is significant that he has a couple of axes to grind concerning the Bible and the church.

To be honest, that kind of irked me. How does he know? Although the main character seems to be upset with the local church, that doesn't necessarily mean that the author shares that view - after all, we can't assume that the author is always projecting into his/her writings!

I was challenged by my friend, and hopped on the net to do some research. I turned to the page the most might think to look up first - Wikipedia. That thing knows everything (not really, but you know what I mean...). I looked up the author and found the page. Hmm. Funny thing... Mr. Young no longer attends church; looks like he might have an ax or two to grind after all.

Anyway, now I'm in research mode. I'm still somewhat annoyed with Gilley's review, and I protest to my friend. In fact, I started writing a blog entry about it. Then my friend passed on another link to me. Tim Challies. Who in the world...

Anyway, turns out Challies churns out some pretty good book reviews and wrote a long one on The Shack. I'll link it here - and it's worth reading! You're able to download the .pdf file a read it (save a tree will ya?), or print it out...

I won't go into a full review of the book - Challies does a much better job than I, and I'll encourage you to point your mouse that way.

So where do I stand now? Well... after much consideration, I think that The Shack is an engaging novel which I found challenging and eye-opening, but further than that, I think The Shack could be quite dangerous. For seekers and new-believers, this book has the potential to warp their view of God and the trinity. Indeed, as I read with my guard down, I was susceptible to what some theologians blatantly call heresy! I think that much discernment is needed when reading this book, and we need to consider the implication of Young's theology.

Sometimes these kind of ideas sound good when you first read them - especially when they are presented in such a personal/relational story like The Shack, but when you consider the implications of those ideas - you realize that they won't fit with your theological cornerstones. That's what happened for me, anyways.

I must admit, because the book was written by a Pastor (and a respected one at that - not some random crack-pot rev), my guard was down. I don't think The Shack is without merit and I think there are some valid points that challenge and encourage relationship with God, especially for people who feel far from Him, but I do worry that this book could have a damaging effect on many.

Read The Shack, but with much discernment. Read the reviews... Read the blogs (just google "The Shack" and "Blog", you'll get zillions of pages). Compare all the ideas with Scripture - think it through.

For those YouTubers - here's Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church - Seattle) talking about The Shack, and here's the author himself on the 700 Club. Last one - here - he talks in Atlanta and describes his past (and his book).

I welcome some feedback - either in the comment section or privately - this has sure been a hot topic that has generated a lot of thought, argument and discussion.

(And I should give a 'shout out' to the friend I mentioned. If you're reading this, you know who you are, and I'm grateful for your insight, weblinks, and personal challenge. You gave me a lot to think about, and I appreciate it. Thanks).